We now know that HMS Daedalus will never become home to male asylum seekers but what the row over what to do with the controversial site rumbles on and the former base is back in the headlines after last week's Channel 4 Despatches documentary Keep Them Out.

Chief reporter Lorelei Reddin looks at some of the options for the former naval base and Daily Echo readers give their responses to the Despatches programme...

LAST year the residents of Lee-on-the-Solent were at the height of their campaign against government plans to house 400 male asylum seekers in their community.

Now, three months after the asylum proposals for HMS Daedalus were kicked out, the future of the former naval base is still not guaranteed.

Suggestions now being proposed for the site include the building of more than 140 new homes, a large community hospital and even a private airfield or mineral extraction plant.

Outline plans have already been submitted to transform the area into housing, with a proposal to build 148 four-bed homes for naval families.

A panel to decide the future of HMS Daedalus is being mooted by Fareham councillors in the wake of the Home Office decision not to use it as an asylum centre.

They hope to put their heads together with Ministry of Defence (MoD) chiefs and members of Gosport Borough and Hampshire County Councils.

However, defence housing chiefs have already started sounding out planners over an application for the four-bedroomed homes.

The would-be developers hope to persuade Gosport councillors to approve the scheme in principle by the end of the month. Officers are studying the plans which, if successful, will lead to a more detailed application.

The news comes just days after the screening of the controversial Channel 4 documentary programme Despatches entitled "Keep them Out".

The show followed the lengthy campaign by some residents from Lee who were battling to stop the asylum seeker centre being built near their homes.

The residents involved in the hour-long programme, narrated by David Modell, have since refuted claims that they are racists and Nimbys as implied during last Thursday's show. They argue that the infrastructure simply would not be able to cope with an influx of 400 people. However, now they could face the possibility of more than 140 families moving into their community.

Fareham and Gosport Primary Care Trust chief executive Ian Piper confirmed that the Daedalus site has been suggested for a large community hospital, but that any discussion on the issue is yet to take place.

The Daedalus Action Group, which campaigned against government proposals for a 400-bed asylum centre, supports the idea of a steering group.

Chairman John Beavis said: "There have been all sorts of suggestions about what the land could be used for, but it's difficult to say what we'd support until we know more.

"Our remit was to take on plans for the asylum centre, but we could change our constitution if need be.

"Anything that is for the good of the community is worthwhile."

Gordon Matthews from NeighbourLee, set up to overcome hostility towards the asylum seekers, said: "I don't think we've really formulated any opinions on what we'd like to go there instead."

Suggestions that the site could be used for mineral extraction are also being explored, but a defence housing spokesman explained plans for the new homes were already well under way.

He said: "We are hoping to complete final negotiations and award a contract by the end of the year, depending on the outcome of the planning applications."

June 2005 has been scheduled as a date for the first properties to be handed over for occupation, with total completion expected a year later.

SEE TODAY'S DAILY ECHO TO SEE SOME OF OUR READERS' REACTIONS TO THE PROGRAMME.